Denver Nuggets get:

Center Jonas Valanciunas

Sacramento Kings get:

Forward Dario Salic

Nuggets: B+

Among the many factors that led to the Nuggets not being able to return to the Western Conference Finals after winning the 2023 NBA championship, their poor use of the luxury tax middle class exception is definitely at the forefront.

Due to the Nuggets' high salary, the luxury tax middle class exception is the only way they can use to sign free agents with a salary exceeding their base salary in the past two summers. The Nuggets have now traded the two players, namely defender Reggie Jackson who signed after winning the championship and Saric, who signed last year.

Although Jackson's contract can at least be interpreted as a compensation after he joined the Nuggets to compete for the championship through a buyout market, there was no logic to sign Saric last summer. When playing for the Warriors with a veteran's basic salary in the 2023-24 season, Saric fell out of the rotation, but somehow got a raise, and - unexpectedly - fell out of the rotation again. He played only 16 games with the Nuggets, totaling 210 minutes.

For the Nuggets, how to succeed at three-time MVP Nikola Jokic's break has been a constant problem. Jokic’s unique style of play is unreplicable, and the only solution the Nuggets find in the 2023 playoffs is to keep multiple starters on the court and let Aaron Gordon swing from power forward to center position. This strategy is not feasible during the long regular season.

Nights coach David Adelman will now have two options. The Nuggets welcomed 2024 first-round pick Dalong Holmes II, who missed the entire rookie season after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in the Las Vegas Summer League. Nuggets' new CEO Ben Tanzer told reporters last week that Holmes will make a comeback in the summer league later this month.

Since Jay Michael Green, who played for the Nuggets in 2019-21, the arrival of Valanciunas has once again given the Nuggets experience and ability as a substitute center. Just two years have passed since he started all 82 games for the Pelicans in the 2023-24 season, Valanciunas is even a bit useless for the role he will play in the Nuggets.

Given that Valanciunas' skill set is very different from Jokic's, organizing the offense around him requires some adjustments, but building a second roster around Valanciunas' pick-and-roll with Jamal Murray should be a viable solution.

Upgrading from Salic to Valanciunas was partly thanks to the deal that traded Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson on Tuesday. After adding about $5 million in salary, the Nuggets' total salary just below the luxury tax line with 13 players (including signing Bruce Brown as a free agent).

Nuggets can take advantage of the transaction exceptions generated in the Porter trade, or incorporate the transaction into that trade to avoid team salaries from hitting the first luxury tax line. If needed, this will allow the Nuggets to use their luxury tax middle class exception to bring in another veteran this summer.

Kings: C-

Less than five months after getting Valanciunas on the trade deadline, the Kings need to complete the deal to sign Dennis Schroeder with the three-year, $45 million contract without triggering the luxury tax.

Alas, this may just be a matter of swapping the Kings (point guard) for another (substitute center). We have no reason to expect Saric to be better with the Kings than he did with the Nuggets. The reason why the Kings gave away two second-round picks was because the team did not have enough depth behind All-Star center Domantas Sabonis.

If the Kings view the luxury tax line as a hard salary cap, they will only be able to use a base salary contract when filling the roster. The Kings did pick Maxim Renault from Stanford in the second round, but even with four years of NCAA experience, it would be too optimistic to expect him to be a rotation player in his rookie season.

Author: Kevin Pelton

Translator: GWayNe